Taking in the landmarks of his novels, from Weequahic Park in The Plot Against America to Goodbye, Columbus's Newark Museum, the Philip Roth bus tour is a must for fans visiting his stomping ground of Newark. But graduates of Weequahic High School were given an extra bonus this weekend when the author himself joined the tour as a surprise guest.

In an echo of Roth's American Pastoral, in which the author's alter ego Nathan Zuckerman attends a 45th reunion at Weequahic High, the class of 1960 were in town for their 50th on Saturday. With many of them clad in the school's brown and orange sweatshirts, they were overwhelmed to find the school's most famous graduate on the tour, reports local paper the Newark Star-Ledger. "Omigod, are we excited!" said Marsha Weinstein. "If I had known, I would have brought my books for him to sign. I have all his books." Jill Goff called out to the author: "I have an empty seat!"

Roth – at 76 a decade older than the other alumni – moved through the bus shaking hands and discovering acquaintances in common, said the Star-Ledger. "Say hello for me," he told his former classmates' younger siblings, a teacher's daughter and old neighbours, adding later: "As you get older, you get closer to home."

Roth's 30th novel, The Humbling – about an ageing stage actor – is out later this month. The author is the recipient of the Pulitzer prize, two National Book Awards, the Gold Medal in Fiction and the National Medal of Arts, among other prizes, but despite being seen as America's best hope for the Nobel he missed out again this year. If he was downcast at being overlooked again, the coach trip should have consoled him: He has previously affirmed, at the unveiling of a plaque outside his childhood home, that "Newark is my Stockholm and that plaque is my prize".